DS-lite (Double Stack-Lite, Dual Stack Lite) is a transition technology put forward to make an IPv4 terminal compatible in an IPv6 network in the process of transition of the current Internet Protocol from IPv4 to IPv6.
FIG. 1 shows an interaction diagram of nodes in a network communication system in a DS-lite environment in the prior art. The network communication system includes the following nodes: an IPv4 terminal, a home gateway, a network gateway, and a STUN (Simple Traversal of UDP over NAT, simple traversal of UDP over NAT) server and a dual-stack management server in the extranet.
The communication in the DS-lite environment is mainly implemented through an IPv6 tunnel between the home gateway and the network gateway and the NAT (Network Address Translation, network address translation) technology deployed in the network gateway. The IPv4 terminal may communicate with the extranet through the IPv6 tunnel between the home gateway and the network gateway. When the IPv4 terminal is a device such as a camera or a set top box, the IPv4 terminal further needs to be remotely managed by the dual-stack management server in the extranet, and in this case, a channel between the IPv4 terminal and the dual-stack management server needs to be established for managing the IPv4 terminal. However, in the DS-lite environment, the NAT function is undertaken by the network gateway, and the management information triggered by the dual-stack management server in the extranet cannot be directly sent to the IPv4 terminal. Therefore, a problem that must be solved in a DS-lite deployment process is how to establish a channel for managing the IPv4 terminal between the IPv4 terminal and the dual-stack management server.
In the prior art, the problem of establishing a channel for managing the IPv4 terminal between the IPv4 terminal and the dual-stack management server is solved mainly through the STUN protocol, Simple Traversal of UDP (User Datagram Protocol, User Datagram Protocol) over NAT (Network Address Translation, network address mapping). In brief, under the protocol, establishing, by the IPv4 terminal, communication with the dual-stack management server through the home gateway and the network gateway may include: firstly, sending, by the IPv4 terminal, a packet to the STUN server, opening a temporary listening port on the network gateway, and maintaining the temporary listening port by establishing communication with the STUN server constantly; secondly, sending, by the IPv4 terminal, a management accept notification to the dual-stack management server; and thirdly, receiving, by the IPv4 terminal through the temporary listening port, a management message sent by the dual-stack management server.
During the implementation of the present invention, the inventor finds that the prior art has at least the following problems:
When the STUN protocol is used to solve the problem of establishing a channel for managing the IPv4 terminal between the IPv4 terminal and the dual-stack management server, a large number of STUN servers need to be deployed in the huge network. Therefore, too many hardware devices not only increase complexity and difficulty of the DS-lite deployment process, but also increase deployment and maintenance costs.